Hinge clamp



J. R. HAYNES Aug. 27, 1968 HINGE CLAMP Filed Dec. 14, 1966 \N\/ENTOK JOER, MAYNES ATTORNEY United States Patent O 3,398,920 HINGE CLAMP Joe R.Haynes, Chamblee, Ga., assignor to Fisher-Haynes Corporation, acorporation of New Jersey Filed Dec. 14, 1966, Ser. No. 601,685

1 Claim. (Cl. 248-226) ABSTRACT F THE DISCLOSURE A hinge clampconstructed according to the invention is for the purpose of forming ahinged connection between a wire guard for a fluorescent lamp and aportion of the lamp itself and includes a base plate to the side edgesof which a pair of apertured clamping plates are afiixed in spacedparallel relation. A swivel element formed on one of the clamping platescooperates with a portion of the wire guard to form a hinge. A grippingelement is threadedly mounted in an aperture formed in one of theclamping plates. The area of each clamping plate immediately adjacentits aperture is embossed on the exterior surface thereof and aninternally projecting throat portion is formed in coincidentalrelationship to each aperture and is internally threaded so that thegripping element may be mounted in either clamping plate and arrangedwith one end thereof spaced from the other clamping plate to form a pairof -vise elements.

This invention relates to hinge clamps and more particularly to aspecially constructed clamping element in combination with swivel meansintegrally formed therewith so as to afford a disjointable hingedconnection for use in mounting wire guards to the reector elements offluorescent lamp fixtures and the like.

Reliable statistics show that great numbers of fluorescent type lamptubes are either broken in their fixtures or are dislodged therefromeach year. Such lamps are broken due to collision with foreign objectsand dislodgment of the lamps from their fixtures, due to vibration fromroof fans, machinery, low flying aircraft, building cranes and the like.Of course lamp breakage and dislodgment constitute a substantial hazardparticularly in processing areas to persons, equipment, and productsbeing processed. Furthermore, falling lamps contaminate food or beveragewhen in a processing area, and a lguard is required by health codes,electrical codes and by military standards as a preventive measure.

An effective means for protecting against inadvertent dislodgement offluorescent lamps from their fixtures can be provided by simply placinga Wire mesh guard underneath the fixture as by mounting the guard to thefixture itself. Of course any guard mounted to a fluorescent fixturemust be easily dismounted in order to accommodate replacement of dim orworn out fluorescent tubes.

A hinge clip which is particularly well adapted for use in mounting wireguards to fluorescent fixtures in which the guard is mounted directly tothe xture base and wherein no reflectors are incorporated is disclosedand claimed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 594,006 filed Nov. 14,1966 (l-240). In the hinge clip arrangement disclosed and claimed inU.S. patent application Ser. No. 594,006, the clip is always oriented inthe same manner with respect to the fiuorescent lamp fixture.

A principal object of this invention is to provide an improved hingeclamp which is inherently Well adapted for interrelating a fiuorescentlamp guard device with the rej 3,398,920 Patented Aug. 27, 1968 iceector of a fiuorescent lamp fixture -by any one of several possibleorientations of the clamp relative to the reflector..

Another object of this invention is the provision of an improvedcombination clamp and swivel element which is readily adaptable formounting and dismounting and which when disconnected on one side of thereflector affords a hinged connection for the other side thereof whichis `simple in construction and by which a maximum degree of security andprotection is afforded.

The invention in one form comprises a base plate, a pair ofclampingplates aflixed to opposite side edges of the base plate and disposed ingenerally parallel relation to each other, swivel means formed on one ofthe clamping plates, a gripping element adjustably mounted on one of theclamping plates and having an end thereof arranged to cooperate with theother of the clamping plates to form therewith a pair of vise elementsfor disjointably interrelating the clamp and another device such as afluorescent lamp reflector, and means formed on the other clamping platewhereby the gripping velement is adjustably mounted thereon forcooperation with said one clamping plate whereby alternate vise elementsare provided. According to a feature of the invention theinterrelationship between the gripping element and the clamping platesconstitute exterior threads on the gripping element and a threadedaperture on each clamping plate and an area of each clamping plateadjacent its threaded aperture is embossed to enhance gripping action.Preferably the apertures are disposed in aligned relationship withrespect to each other and means are provided for manually adjusting thegripping element.

For a better understanding of the invention reference may be had to thefollowing detailed description taken in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings in which FIG. 1 is a perspective view of afluorescent lamp lixture and its associated refiector and in which theimproved hinge clamp of this invention is utilized to secure theprotective wire guard to the refiector; FIG. 2 is an enlargedperspective view of a hinge clamp constructed according to thisinvention; FIG. 3 is a view similar to FIG. 2 but taken from theopposite side from which the view of FIG. 2 is taken; and in which FIG.4A-E repre- 'sents a number of orientations of the hinge clamp of thisinvention relative to :a fluorescent lamp fixture and to an associatedprotective guard, the various arrange-ments of FIG. 4 being simplyillustrative of `some of the orientations which may be employedaccording to the invention.

In the drawings the numeral 1 generally designates a conventionalfluorescent fixture while the numeral 2 generally designates a reflectorstructure for fixture 1. A wire guard is generally designated by thenumeral 3 and a pair of hinge clamps constructed according to thisinvention are designated generally by the numerals 4 and 5. It isapparent from FIG. 1 that the hinge clamps 4 and 5 are disposed inspased relation along one edge of reflector 2. It will be understood ofcourse that similar hinge clamps are disposed along the opposite edge ofthe refiector 2, such clamps not being observable in FIG. 1.

The improved hinge clamp of this invention is best shown in FIGS. 2 and3 and comprises a base plate 6 to the side edges of which a pair ofclamping plates 7 and 8 are affixed or integrally formed. Grippingelement 9 is arranged to cooperate with an aperture 10 formed inclamping plate 8 and is exteriorly threaded, the aperture 10 of courseAbeing threaded along its interior surface.

A manual turning element 11 is aixed to one end of gripping element 9.

According to one facet of the invention a threaded aperture 12 is formedin clamping plate 7 and preferably is disposed in aligned relationshipwith respect to the aperture formed in clamping plate 8. Swivel elementgenerally desigated at 13 is formed on an edge of clamping plate 7 whichis remote from the base plate 6. As is shown in the drawing swivelelement 13 simply constitutes an inwardly curved portion of clampingplate 7. The swivel element 13 simply receives the edge wire 14 of thewire guard 3, wire 14 constituting structure which is equivalent to ahinge pin disposed within and enveloped by the swivel element 13 so asto form therewith a swivel means on hinged connection between the hingeclamps such as 4 and 5 and the wire guard 3.

Preferably the area of clamping plate tl` which is disposed immediatelyadjacent the gripping element 9 and about the aperture 10 is embossed asis designated at 15, the embossment being such that clamping.r plate 8protrudes outwardly in a direction away from clamping plate 7 in theregion thereof immediately adjacent aperture 10 and gripping element 9.In like fashion aperture 12 is provided with an outwardly embossed area16 which corresponds generally to embossment 15. The embossment 16 ineffect results in an outward protrusion of the area of clamping plate 7adjacent aperture 12 which is in a direction away from clamping plate 8.

In order to apply the hinge clamp such as is depicted in FIGS. 2 and 3to a fluorescent xture, the wire y14 is rst securely captured in theswivel means 13 of a number of hinge clamps such as 4 and 5 in a mannerto form a hinged connection therebetween. Of course hinge clamps aremounted along the opposite edges of Wire guard 3. Thereafter thegripping element is used to secure each of the hinge clamps such as 4and 5 to one edge of the reflector 2 following which the guard 3 ishinged about the already applied hinge clamps into the position depictedin FIG. 1 and hinge clamps along the remaining edge of the guard 3 areaffixed to reflector 2 by suitable adjustment of gripping elements 9.

The versatility and adaptability of the hinge clamp constructedaccording to this invention is evident from FIGS. 4. For example FIG. 4Adepicts a reflector 2 in which a horizontal edge ange panel 17 isempl-oyed as well as a vertically disposed flange panel 18. With such anarrangement, a hinge clamp such as 4 or 5 may be oriented with respectto the reilector 2 as shown in FIG. 4A with the clamping plate 8disposed immediately above the flange panel 17 and with the inner end ofthe gripping element 9 screwed into firm and secure contact with thelower surface of ange panel 17.

The reflector of FIG. 4B incorporates a horizontal flange panel 17 andan upwardly extending vertically disposed flange panel 19 arranged alongthe inner surface of base plate 6. In such an arrangement, theorientation of the hinge clamp such as is depicted in FIG. 4B may beemployed. In this arrangement the clamping plate 7 is disposedimmediately underneath the flange panel 17 and the inner end of grippingelement 9 is screwed down into secure and firm contact with the uppersurface of flange plate 17.

The reliector of FIG. 4C is generally similar to that depicted in FIGS.4A and 4B except that no vertical ange panel is incorporated in thearrangement of FIG. 4C. In this orientation, the base plate 6 isdisposed immediately below the flange panel 17 with the inner end of thegripping element 9 screwed into secure and firm contact with the lowerpart 20 of reflector 2, the clamping plate 7 being disposed immediatelybehind and to the right of area 20 of reflector 2 so that a securegripping action is achieved.

The reflector structure depicted in FIG. 4D is similar to that of 4A inthat ange panels 17 and 18 are employed. In addition, a horizontalflange panel 21 is secured to the lower edge of flange panel 18. Thusthe hinge clamp in FIG. 4D is disposed with the clamping plate 8alongside iiange panel 18 and with the gripping element 9 screwed intosecure contact with the inner surface of flange panel 18. In thisarrangement flange panel 21Lis disposed immediately above the innersurface of base plate 6.

In FIG. 4E, a reflector structure is disclosed wherein the lower edge ofreflector 2 is simply curved outwardly and upwardly to form theconfiguration 22. In this arrangement, the clamping plate 8 is disposedoutsideconfiguration 22 and the gripping element 9 is screwedl into firmcontact with the inner surface of contiguration 22.

It is apparent that the arrangements depicted in FIGS. 4B and 4C aresuch that the gripping element 9 is threadedly interrelated with theaperture 10 formed in clamping plate 8. In FIGS. 4A, 4D and 4E grippingelement 9 is threadedly related with the aperture 12 formed in clampingplate 7. Furthermore, it is apparent particularly from FIGS. 2 and 3that the embossed areas 15 and 16 simply result in the formation of aslightly recessed area along the inner surfaces of the clamping plates 8and 7 respectively. Furthermore inwardly projecting debossed threadedthroat areas 15A and 16A afford suflicient length axially of theapertures 10 and 12 to accommodate several threads and thereby toprovide a measure of strength not obtainable with clamping plates suchas 7 and 8 when constructed of material of ordinary twenty gaugethickness, it being understood that twenty gauge thickness is adequatelystrong and economically feasible for the stresses to be encountered. Ofcourse the invention is not limited to material of any particularthickness. Preferably the debossed areas are formed by extruding.

The various orientations depicted in FIG. 4 clearly bring out the factthat almost any conceivable arrangement of the lower edge of reflector 2may be accommodated by the hinge clamp of this invention, it beingapparent that certain advantageous clamping action is achieved due tothe aligned relationship of the apertures 10 and 12 and theirembossments. It is also apparent that hinge clamps such as 4 and 5 maybe disconnected from one edge of reflector 2 and thereafter the entireguard 3 may be hinged downwardly about hinge clamps along the oppositeedge of reflector 2. lOf course the hinge clamps along either edge maybe disconnected and a hinged relation between reflector 2 and guard 3thus formed along the other edge depending on space requirements, localconditions and the like so that substantial versatility and adaptabilityare possible by the improved hinge clamp of the invention.

While a particular embodiment of the invention has been shown anddescribed, the invention is not limited thereto and it is intended inthe appended claim to cover all such changes and modifications as fallwithin the true spirit and scope of the invention.

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property orprivilege is claimed are defined as follows:

1. A hinge clamp comprising a base plate, a pair of clamping platesadjoined to opposite side edges of said base plate and disposed inspaced generally parallel relation to each other, a swivel elementformed along an edge of one of said clamping plates remote from saidbase plate and disposed inwardly of the plane of said one clampingplate, an internally threaded aperture formed in each of said clampingplates, said apertures being aligned and said clamping plates beingembossed on their outer surfaces in the areas thereof adjacent to andsurrounding said apertures, inwardly projecting internally threadeddebossed throat portions formed in the embossed areas of said clampingplates, said throat portions being internally threaded and being alignedwith their associated apertures, an exteriorly threaded gripping elementadjustably mounted in the aperture in one of said clamping plates andarranged with one end thereof adjacent the other clamping plate to formtherewith a pair of vise elements, and a manually operable turningelement aflxed to the other end of said gripping element.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 7,501 7/ 1850 Alteneder 24-2431,147, 007 7/ 1915 Eckenroad 24-243 2,187,059 1/ 1940 Schor et al.248-226 2,934,132 4/1960 Farmer et al. 248-226 3,141,257 7/1964 Stull248-226 FOREIGN PATENTS 700,936 12/1953 Great Britain. 835,452 5/1960Great Britain.

1,001,510 10/1951 France.

BOBBY R. GAY, Primary Examiner.

